I am incredibly impressed with Allison King’s debut novel The Phoenix Pencil Company. The story weaves together so many genres effortlessly: historical fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and romance. But at its heart, it’s a deeply touching tale about family history and connection.
The story follows Monica and Yun, a granddaughter and grandmother, as its primary narrators. Yun is losing her memory, and as the plot unfolds, we’re given a beautifully complex look at her life through the memories she writes out. The historical backdrop of Shanghai and Taiwan during war and occupation was something I wasn’t familiar with, but King’s writing really brought the emotions and turmoil of that period to life. It’s gripping and so compelling.

In the present, the story shifts to the U.S. and focuses on Monica helping her grandparents. What stands out here is how the book ties together so many elements: there’s a magical ability, themes of family love and connection, and even explorations of data privacy and ethics. Yet it never feels overwhelming as the storytelling is brilliant, and King balances everything perfectly.
The characters are engaging, the emotions run deep, and there’s an incredible sense of survival and life lessons woven into the narrative. I love how the story shines a light on the importance of embracing family stories and passing them on to future generations.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this incredible book.

OMG! I have found a fantastic author! I loved the book so much@

The dual point of view were done to perfection. I fell on love with the setting in China and both Monica and her Grandmother, Yun.

I loved the use of the pencil factory. How unique.

I have no trouble recommending.

Wowowowowow. This was so good. Was in a reading rut for a bit, but I picked this back up and demolished the rest quickly. I am not very good at picking up on and being able to nicely articulate the more important messages behind books, especially topics I am not fully familiar with, but I am gonna try. This book follows the tales of a granddaughter and grandmother as they seek to reflect on and reframe their life stories before the latter loses her memory. I was surprised to find a conversation about data privacy and the ethics of archiving/story collecting spread throughout the book. It fit in seamlessly and brought so much more meaning to the overarching plot. Once I caught on to what was happening, it had me rethinking everything that I had learned so far with how it related to the topic and what it all meant. It was awesome!

There was a romance plot happening in real time with the granddaughter, which was both adorable and painfully real in all the right spots. And I was pleasantly surprised by the love story of the grandmother. And wow did it get my heart kicking. Not me falling in love with the grandpa though. He was such a dreamboat! I see you, oldie, and I love you!

Though I haven't totally deep dived into the genre yet, I have been really loving historical fiction (thank you Sarah Waters). I had yet to move outside of a Western history, so this taking place in Shanghai and Taiwan for a portion of it was so refreshing to me! I am not someone who knows a lot of history off hand, but I was still able to keep up with this book just fine!

What Brilliant storytelling! I loved this book, the emotion, the story, the characters. Tangible and thoughtful weaving between the past and the present. It hit me hard as I'm dealing with dementia in my Mother and memory loss is a big part of the story. Exceptionally well done. Allison King, thank you for such a great story.

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King was a pleasant surprise. We get to join Monica's, a computer major trying to find her place in life, on a journey as she learns the family business of making of pencils and the secret that it entails. I loved the dual POV and the strong women characters. and the lessons they left along their historic journey of life. This book reminds us to embrace our family's stories. That we should spend time learning and listening to our family's so their stories can be passed on to the next generation. Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow Publishing for this ACR in exchange for my honest review.

gorgeously lyrical story with effective writing and effective themes. would definitely recommend. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Unfortunately, I struggled to make it through this one. I thought it was an interesting concept, but nothing took ahold of me. I didn’t care for any of the characters so by the end I was ready for it to be done. I think others may really enjoy this one, it just wasn’t for me.

I really had a lot of trouble reading this book -- I particularly hate the 2nd person narration which seemed to be half of it. Sorry!

An interesting novel with a compelling premise. The characters had potential, but I felt as though my connection to the story was limited due to the writing style. I really loved what the plot was doing, but I felt as though this book was one focused more on ideas and plot (ideas and plot that I liked, mind you), than characters and relationships. With a novel about family like this, the relationships really need to sing, and I wasn't grabbed by it.

Overall, a good book for fans of softer generational narratives and historical fiction.

**Features:**
- A generational story about stories, memory, and connection
- Uncovering family secrets and history
- Split between a modern and historical storyline
- Espionage in World War II era Shanghai with a touch of magical realism

**Synopsis:**

For most of her life, Monica Tsai has been raised by her grandparents. Now that they are in their nineties, Monica wants to do something meaningful for them while hopefully convincing her grandmother, Yun, to finally open up about her past. Monica thinks she has found the answer: Yun’s long estranged cousin Meng. The journey to find Meng leads shy Monica to a digital journal project called EMBRS and finding an unexpected connection. But when Yun is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Monica’s chance to finally learn about her family’s past starts slipping away.

While Monica tries to uncover long hidden family secrets, Yun’s story begins to unfold. Living in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War, Yun is no stranger to conflict. But when her family’s ability to Reforge a pencil’s words are discovered, she and Meng are forced into a life of espionage in a fight for power.

**Thoughts:**

This beautiful and poignant cross-generational story was so much more than I expected when I first saw its cheerfully bright cover. At its core, this book is about connection and the value of our stories. It is told in two storylines: Monica’s journal recording her experience trying to uncover her family history in 2018 and letters Yun is writing looking back on her life in China during the Chinese Civil War (World War II era). Where both Monica and Yun work to ‘collect’ stories, Monica’s work through EMBRS to forge connections feels diametrically opposed to the abuse of the family’s ability to Reforge stories in wartime China. King does such a remarkable job showing how the same abilities that allow us to celebrate and preserve our stories can also be used to manipulate and harm. A person’s thoughts and stories being shared and used without their knowledge and/or consent truly felt like a violation as the consequences of Yun, Meng, and their mothers' use of their ability unfolded.

From the very beginning, we know that Yun and her cousin Meng had a falling out and haven’t spoken to each other for decades. Given the setup, I definitely thought that the past storyline would feature an undeniably close and warm friendship between the two. However, that didn’t end up really being the case. Yun and Meng’s relationship is rocky and complicated from the start and though they form close bonds, there are constantly outside forces that we see shape and test those bonds. The very real and complicated nature of this relationship as well as the one between Monica and Yun only makes the romance subplot stick out like a sore thumb. I didn’t completely dislike that it’s there, but it feels underdeveloped next to the other things that make up a truly remarkable tale.

Any book that includes magical realism, historical fiction, romance, and family connections will always be a solid read for me. The Phoenix Pencil Company was intense at times but overall intriguing as it revolved around family and the importance of being seen, loved, and remembered. The story follows granddaughter Monica trying to decide if she'll return to college or take time off to care of her aging grandparents, specifically care for her grandmother who appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Monica is an incredibly talented computer science major who is heavily involved in the development of new technology for a social media application. This work leads her to stumble upon a photo of a young woman, Louise, who had recently spent time in Singapore with an older woman who she and her grandmother recognize to be Monica's great-aunt. The same one that her beloved grandmother hasn't seen or spoken to in decades. From there stories are told through Monica's grandmother's pov from the past during war times when she and her cousin were raised together by their mothers and who share a past of turmoil, jealousy, sisterhood, loyalty, espionage, and secrets.

This book includes a charming love story between Monica and Louise as well as the telling of the love story of Monica's grandparents. The past timeline was wonderfully reflected upon with emotion and detail. As a reader, I was easily able to imagine the sites and seriousness that war had plagued on their young lives. I also liked the interactions we got to see with Monica, Louise, and the grandparents. I thought they were extremely sweet and heartwarming. Everyone should want to feel accepted for who they are just as Monica was by her lovely grands.

Overall, this story was about stories. About preserving our pasts and telling our own stories. It makes you wonder how much you want to share of yourselves online to people who don't really know you, versus sharing the stories that really shaped us into who we are with the people that matter most.

Solid 4 out of 5 stars read for me. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced copy.

I enjoyed the detail into the introduction of the book. I enjoyed the detailed history placed on the characters and locations. It was just a little too much for me and not moving along as quickly as I would have preferred. I would love to give the audiobook a chance once it's out.

I think this was a good book. I think the characters were interesting and the pacing was fine. I just couldn't get into it as much as I wanted too. However I did enjoy it.

Rating: 4.5/5

”𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴? 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯, 𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.”

Told through the dual perspectives of Monica (granddaughter) and Yun (grandmother), the novel intricately weaves Monica’s discovery of her hidden family history with Yun’s memories of her years in Shanghai and Taiwan, working at the Phoenix Pencil Company. Monica’s story unfolds through archived diary entries, while Yun’s is revealed through letters written to her long-lost cousin. Early on, we learn that their family possesses a magical ability called Reforging— allowing them to inject written words into their veins, experience those words firsthand, and, if they choose, transfer them onto paper, etching them into history forever.

While this extraordinary ability can bring immense joy and pleasure, it also carries the weight of immense pain and betrayal. Yun and her cousin Meng experience this firsthand in their youth, forced by the Chinese government into a life of espionage where they must use their gift to expose secrets and betray written stories.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is for you if you enjoy:
-complex family dynamics
-lgbt romance
-historical fiction (chinese, WWII)
-magical realism

💫The elements of magical realism, historical fiction, family secrets, and multi-generational families, and the way they are so perfectly intertwined, make this such a unique and beautiful read. I would recommend this book to anyone, but you definitely need to go in with an open mind.

thanks to @williammorrowbooks for my first ARC! #ThePhoenixPencilCompany #BookReview

Monica, young woman college student in contemporary Boston is working on a project with her professor that is meant to find connections of a deeper and more important level than dating apps. She meets a girl from Princeton through the program who has met her grandmother's long lost cousin in Shanghai. Alternating between China starting just prior to WWII and the present we learn the two cousins and their mothers who make and sell exquisite pencils have a magical/but painfully scarring ability to "read" what had been written with the pencils. That ability is important for the war effort and followed by the conflict between Nationalists and Communists. The entwined present and past is a thought provoking look at communication and privacy.

I began this book with a little trepedation because I wasn't initially a fan of the diary-esque writing style, but I quickly got over that and found that this was good! I teared up a lot at the end — as family books always tend to make me do — and I particularly liked the relationship between Monica and her grandmother, especially since we saw it from both sides. I also loved how Monica's digital desire for connection mirrored Louise's analogue one — how they were sort of almost foils in this way. However, there were some points where I thought that the data privacy discussions and subplots were a little random and tangential.
While reading I also thought a little about where I draw the line between magical realism and fantasy. I think this story really wants to be more magical realism but by naming the practice of Reforging it becomes closer to fantasy — by making magic something named it becomes a little less natural to me.
Thanks to Harper and NetGalley for the arc!!

I had already been waiting for this book before it became available on NetGalley when I first heard about it almost a year ago, so thank you so much to the publisher for granting me access to The Phoneix Pencil Company. If you love historical fiction, if you love magical realism, if you love multigeneral stories, please, please read this book! Despite going in with such high expectations, I was not disappointed in the least bit. Switching between present-day and WWII, between a granddaughter and her grandmother, all with a magical pencil company at the heart of the story. This was such a beautiful story. Book clubs will eat this up! June can't get here soon enough.

First, let me admit that I did not realize The Phoenix Pencil Company is not really my thing, so I am admittedly not the best person to provide a review. The abstract mention of a multi-generational history hooked me. I will say that it was a really interesting story of four generations of Asian women with a unique gift that complicated the course of their lives from the survival of WWI China through their separation in WWII and reunification through a strange and mysterious journey in modern times. I think it is a really good read for the right audience.

This book is charming, heartfelt and at times profound. It is dual POV, with Monica keeping a journal in 2018 and her grandmother writing a letter about her life, starting with her childhood in Shanghai. Both narratives are distinct and important to the overall story.

This is a beautiful story about family, about connections. It is about how our choices shape our own stories: past, present and future.

I found the comparison between the pencils and the EMBRS program to be a fascinating examination of how we connect, how we remember, and how we share our stories.

Thank you to William Morrow for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Thank you Willam Morrow for the review copy! I saw this cover, and the intriguing book title, and just had to check it out. What a delightful surprise, a family generational story with a mix of sci fi in a way that worked for my non sci fi reader heart; it felt more like the kind of dashes of magical realism that I love in well developed character driven stories. I loved the history in this book, I know so very little of Shanghai and cultural/family nuances so the exploration of family and history, context and culture, of individual and family identity all made this a tremendous win for me. I can't wait to recommend this to many readers, this book will find a special place in many reader's hearts and will be a welcome addition to book club line ups!